2023 Orlando Magic Player Outlook: Terrence Ross seeks redemption, return to normal

Terrence Ross started this season in complete flux.

He is really the last remaining player from the team’s 2019 and 2020 playoff runs and feels a bit out of place. He is out of place because he is one of two players older than 30 years old on the team.

It did not seem like he fit in with the team and its learning curve other than the veteran to guide the young players. He knew it. The Orlando Magic likely know it. And everyone was trying to find a way to do what is best for player and for team.

Ross made it known early in the offseason that he had discussions with Magic management about his future. There seemed to be some mutual agreement to try to help Ross find himself on a playoff team.

But Ross needed to hold up his end of the deal. And after one of the worst seasons of his career, he had more value staying on the Magic than whatever the team could get for him.

Terrence Ross struggled throughout the 2022 season, putting up the worst shooting numbers of his career. The Orlando Magic guard needs a bounceback for his current team and his future.

That makes this season a critical one for Ross and for the Magic in so many ways. Ross is still a valuable player and has plenty to contribute to a winning team — whether it be this one or another. But the step back he took in the 2022 season hurt not only his value on the trade market but the team as a whole.

Ross has to spend the 2023 season reclaiming his value and reclaiming his game. He cannot have a repeat of his terrible 2022 season.

Ross averaged only 10.0 points per game after hovering around 15.0 points per game the three previous seasons. His shooting percentages plummeted going from 41.2 percent in 2021 to 39.7 percent in 2022, his lowest overall field goal percentage in his career.

He is a volume 3-point shooter and so much of his value comes in his ability to hit from the outside. While there is no denying his gravity, he struggled to hit from the outside, shooting a career-worst 29.2 percent.

Worse still, he saw his 3-point attempts drop to 4.2 per game as teams successfully top-blocked him and kept him from getting the 3-point looks off screens and cuts that made him such a deadly weapon for the Magic’s playoff teams just a few years ago.

He was in the 30th percentile in catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, according to Basketball Index, at 30.2 percent, and was in the 36th percentile in corner threes at 32.4 percent. In 2019, for instance, Ross was in the 39.0 percent on catch-and-shoot threes (72nd percentile) and 44.8 percent on corner threes (79th percentile).

On top of this, he was in the 98th percentile in movement points per 75 possessions (points from off screen plays and cuts) at 6.1 points per game. Last year, he scored just 3.0 points per 75 possessions. That might be the one area he still experienced success.

But it is easy to see how all of his stats got cut in half from his 2019 peak. And that hurt the team overall. Ross can run hot and cold, but he became unreliable for the Magic, further burying the team with its bench lineups.

Some of this was not his fault.

Ross was playing largely in lineups with bench groups. His most common lineup last year was with Jalen Suggs, Gary Harris, Chuma Okeke and Moe Wagner. Those groups are not exactly conducive to creating space for Ross and allowed defenses to hone in on him and eliminate his pet actions.

His 3-point shot quality, as measured by Basketball Index, was one of the worst in the league (try the first percentile).

Ross is out there to take tough shots. So that is not so much of a concern with him.

Teams were top blocking him and forcing him in the paint and crowding him a ton. He was on the top of everyone’s scouting report for this Magic team and got that full treatment.

Ross being able to play with a deeper team and better players will help give him more space to get the quality looks and convert them that he could not last year. In term, Ross’ attention and movement will create space for others. The young players should be more ready to take advantage.

Ross said he did his part. He said at Media Day he spent his offseason working on taking tough shots under pressure. He wanted to get comfortable with the exact shot she struggled with last year.

His preseason results have been encouraging — 12.5 points per game, 43.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc. There is a real chance that Ross could end up starting on opening night with all the injuries the Magic have been facing.

It is a positive step in the right direction and Ross seems legitimately energized by the fresh approach the Magic have taken overall.

That does not silence the way Ross entered this season. While Ross probably did not make a formal trade request and seems perfectly happy in Orlando, his future is still up in the air. He had a point about what he wants for the rest of his career.

He is at the stage of his career where he wants to be competing. While he remains a good veteran and part of the team, he knows his time in the league is running out and he does not want to be on a rebuilding team.

The Magic are going to take care of themselves. They held out for a first-round pick if they could get one. But nothing else came across their table. So Ross remains with the Magic.

The Magic still seem amenable to helping out their veteran players. President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman has said several times that Terrence Ross is the one that got left holding the bag after the team tore itself down during the 2021 season. The Magic seem to want to do right by their veteran guard.

Ross becomes a free agent at the end of the year. And he could have value for teams looking to add a veteran shooter for their playoff push come February. What Orlando does might depend on where it is as a team.

Ross, to his credit, is still really invested and believes in what the Magic are building. Perhaps a strong start to the season will make Ross more amenable to seeing things out with this group.

Either way, Ross seems like an Orlando lifer. This is nothing to do with his dissatisfaction with the Magic.

But like all things, it gets proven on the court. One way or another everything gets determined by how a player plays.

That is where the focus is for Ross this year.

And after his rough 2022 season, Ross needs a bounceback 2023 season to show what he can still contribute throughout the league.